[INTERVIEW] KOCIS aims to promote 'sustainable hallyu' via Korean cultural centers worldwide

Kim Jang-ho, director of the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS), speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the KOCIS Center in central Seoul, Feb. 10. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

'Harmony with local culture is key to Korean contents' sustainability,' says state promotion agency head

By Park Han-sol

Hallyu, or the Korean wave, reached another milestone last year with simultaneous successes in music, cinema and drama, further cementing the country's reputation as a rising cultural powerhouse.

Lee Jung-jae, the star of Netflix's hit dystopian thriller "Squid Game," made history as the first Asian and Korean performer to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor. Veteran actor Song Kang-ho nabbed the Best Actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in "Broker," becoming the first Korean male lead to receive the honor. And K-pop titan BTS snagged Grammy nominations for three years in a row, all the while being showered with prizes at the Billboard Music Awards and the American Music Awards.

Kim Jang-ho, director of the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS), the state agency dedicated to promoting the country overseas, attributes the phenomenal growth of the nation's culture industry beyond the linguistic and geographic confines to several key factors.

"It goes without saying that the roles played by Korean artists, performers and content producers themselves have been the most significant force behind the nation's transformation into an entertainment juggernaut," he said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. "Their originality and imagination, which in part take cues from the country's unique history and tradition, have come to define Korea's 'creative DNA' and form the foundation of its cultural sector."

Such creative output has then been able to cleverly ride on the back of the expanding digital environment since the late 1990s, helping them gain visibility and prominence on the local and global stage simultaneously, he added.

According to Kim, Korea's current creative golden age, where people around the world are paying an unprecedented amount of attention to the country's cultural exports, provides a crucial opportunity to make hallyu a sustainable movement.

"The central way for Korean cultural content to achieve such a feat is by harmonizing with the local culture in the long run ― instead of stopping at unilaterally advancing on or 'invading' the scene. After all, culture is not about competition that aims to outdo each other," he said.?

"Only by doing so can the image of Korea truly improve and can further have a positive spillover effect on other fields like the economy, trade and nation branding."

Participants attend a K-pop Academy class hosted by the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Courtesy of Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles

Public, private sectors' roles in promoting culture

As the head of the government agency in charge of promoting Korea overseas via an extensive network of 33 cultural centers in 28 countries worldwide, Kim was able to quickly witness the explosive rise in demand for Korean pop culture.

While government support has played a part in terms of policy implementation and financial assistance since the mid-1990s, popular K-culture events around the world are now being organized independently by the private sector without state intervention.

"One of the representative cases would be KCON, the largest annual convention devoted entirely to K-culture held around the world (by CJ ENM)," he said, adding that when it comes to a majority of such events revolving around Korean pop culture ― music, film, drama and webtoons ― state-run agencies like KOCIS' cultural centers usually play the role of quiet supporters providing administrative assistance.

One popular exception is the K-pop Academy class, hosted in over 20 cultural centers worldwide, that offers choreography and vocal training to people interested in experiencing the viral music themselves.

"The demand for these classes has been continually increasing in multiple cities, making it highly likely that they will further expand their presence in the near future. For example, in the case of the Korean Cultural Center in Los Angeles, major universities and K-pop societies throughout the city would put in requests to invite the trainers to offer lessons," Kim noted.

"But as Korea's pop culture is mainly getting its due recognition by players in the private sector, our centers have come to focus more on coordinating projects that can spotlight other aspects of the country's culture to satisfy the different needs of local communities."

An immersive exhibition titled "Yeondeunghoe, a Buddhist Festival of Illuminated Colors," was displayed at the Korean Cultural Center in Paris from May to September last year, as part of its 2022 "Taste Korea!" festival. The show drew over 50,000 visitors during its run, the largest figure ever recorded for a single event held since the opening of the cultural center in 1980. Courtesy of Korean Cultural Center Paris

Ven. Hongseung leads a cooking demonstration of Korean temple food at Taste of Paris, an annual culinary festival, at Grand Palais in the French capital in May last year, as part of the 2022 "Taste Korea!" festival. Courtesy of Taste of Paris, Vincent Nageotte

These include art exhibitions, "gugak" (traditional Korean music) performances, classical concerts, cuisine events and Korean language programs.

Last year, the Korean Cultural Center in Paris hosted the 2022 "Taste Korea!" festival from May to September to celebrate Korean Buddhist culture.

Various programs were offered: the introduction of temple food at Taste of Paris, an annual culinary festival at the heart of the French capital, a cooking demonstration of traditional fermented dishes at Le Cordon Bleu, templestay sessions, and an immersive exhibition on UNESCO-inscribed "Yeondeunghoe," or the Lotus Lantern Festival.

The exhibition alone, which incorporated media art, projection mapping and non-fungible token (NFT) art into its display, drew over 50,000 visitors during its run, the largest figure ever recorded for a single event held since the opening of the cultural center in 1980.

In 2023, KOCIS plans to take another ambitious step in its response to Korea's continuous rise as a major cultural exporter.

Korea's alternative pop band Leenalchi performs at a sold-out show at the House of Music in Budapest, Hungary, Sept. 21, 2022. The performance was organized at the initiative of the Korean Cultural Center in Hungary. Courtesy of Korean Cultural Center Hungary

The organization is set to open two new cultural centers each in Austria and Sweden within the first half of this year. Its outpost in New York City will transform into a larger, full-scale hub called the Korea Center in a newly constructed building to house not only the previously established cultural center but also the New York offices of the Korea Tourism Organization and the Korea Creative Content Agency.

In addition, KOCIS will collaborate with prominent national cultural institutions ― National Hangeul Museum, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Museum of Korea, National Gugak Center and National Theater of Korea ― to organize 17 touring shows consisting of an exhibition themed with Hangeul (Korean alphabet), a survey of traditional polychrome paintings called "chaesaekhwa," and performances led by gugak maestros and choreographers.

These touring shows are part of the organization's attempt to provide a more cohesive, unified cultural event across its outposts scattered around the globe, alongside its already-existing, country-specific programs.

KOCIS is also set to continue its program of K-influencers and honorary reporters, who are voluntarily tasked with producing online articles and contents about the country's cultural scene both here and abroad from the perspective of foreigners.

"The number of applicants for the annual program has particularly soared since 2020. Last year alone, more than 4,300 were appointed as honorary reporters and around 1,850 as K-influencers," Kim said.